When do you use which pickup(s)?

[mattmayfield]

I seem to rarely use anything for cover tunes but my Strat's neck for clean and bridge humbucker for distortion. The original artists must be doing something more exciting than that. Who can come up with examples in recorded rock music of which pickups on what kind of guitar?

For example:

David Gilmour, in "Coming Back to Life" on The Division Bell, plays his solo first with the neck pickup of his Strat, then switches to the bridge at 1:12. Then, the solo at around 3:47 sounds like bridge/mid to me.

[sumgai]

matt,

While some guitarists do indeed try to be "inventive" in selecting their solo sounds, such as Elliott Easton on The Cars' "Touch 'n Go", the fact is, most axe wielders realize that the vast majority of the time, you just can't beat "Simple". Many players capitalize on using just one major tone for their entire reportoire, and we easily accept that. Stevie Ray comes to mind. Others can fling out tonal changes like they were notes on a fretboard like, say, Roy Buchanan, and we don't elevate them any higher in GuitarGawd Pantheon, do we?

So the point of this is, play what sounds best to your ears, and let the chips fall where they may. Only a true guitar-geek will care if you choose some tone that they would not have used. If it sounds good to you (and your bandmates), then it is good. Or as Chris would say,

[glow=blue,1,100]Tone Is[/glow]


sumgai

[jester700]

Sumgai's right. We honor guitarists for being recognizable, and for that it's just as important what you DON'T do as what you DO. I mean, we can all recognize an Angus lick pretty quickly, bot in style and sound. But if Angus put something on record that had a EVH style tapping thing going on (complete with flanger) or a Knopfleresque strat quack, it wouldn't sound like Angus. At least not immediately.

So, for a cover or wedding band, tons o' sounds are good; for forging a "sound" or "style", not so much.

[jhng]

I'm not sure I entirely agree. It is easy to underestimate how much your guitar tone can effect your playing style (rather than vice-versa). Often experimenting with different tones can encourage you to open up new ways of playing and expand your fluency and versatility on the instrument. But this doesn't have to "water down" the expression of your own individual musicality.

Ultimately it is "all in the fingers": but while you can cite many legendary guitarists who do have a very identifiable tone (obvious examples are Brian May and Dave Gilmour), there are also others who use a very wide range of guitar tones such as Jimmy Page or Hendrix. I don't think that this second group are any less identifiable as guitarists (even though they may not have a single signature tone). You can recognise Hendrix, in particular, in a split second - even if he's playing an acoustic, for example, or a Gibson rather than his more common Strat.

When I recently rewired my Strat I brought back the "Middle alone", and "Middle and Bridge" combos which I hadn't had available for years. I now find I'm using "Middle alone" constantly, which is also pulling me towards experimenting with a more staccato, Robby Krieger-ish style than previously.

Hastings

[sumgai]

Hastings,

Well, the original question was about covering original artists, not so much about expanding one's own expressive capabilities. But beyond that point, I do agree with your assesment.


sumgai

[jhng]

Good point! In answer to the original question here are a couple of famous signature sounds:

Brian May - Red Special guitar, Bridge and Middle single coils in series 80% of the time, Neck and Middle in series and out of phase for some solos (e.g. Bohemian Rhapsody).

Hendrix - Neck and Middle single coils on a strat in parallel (before it was a standard option!) is the classic clean sound for (e.g.) the intro to Little Wing or Castles Made of Sand.

Peter Green - Neck and Bridge humbuckers on a Gibson parallel and out of phase for a lot of the early Fleetwood Mac stuff e.g. on Pious Bird of Good Omen.

Jimmy Page - Bridge pickup (I think!) on a Telecaster for the solo on the recorded version of Stairway to Heaven (that always catches people by surprise!).

Hastings

PS. - Sumgai, Do I qualify as "a true guitar-geek"?

[sumgai]

Hastings,

......
Sumgai, Do I qualify as "a true guitar-geek"?

Why would anybody think that you don't qualify?! ;D

If you've got the fever......


sumgai

[jhng]

fair point! The same point was made the other day by my friend when I explained to her in more detail than was strictly speaking necessary why Dan Armstrong's lipstick tube pickups were such an interesting innovation in guitar design.

Hastings

[tacobobbo]

Ohhhhhhhhhh....... Pickups Thats what those controls control. Guess ya really never ARE too old to learn.
Bob

[mlrpa]

well, what about Robert Fripp? Neck p/u with tone at 5 most of the time. (The ultimate tone in my opinion.)

[dunkelfalke]

david gilmour is not exactly the best example in that case - although he often uses a strat he switches between an active and a passive strat, a lapsteel and at some life concerts a gretsch. for some songs he uses a tele.

so he hasn't a signature sound really, it is just that he uses quite a lot of reverb and delay and his recordings are extremely polished in the studio.

[warmstrat]

Sorry to drag out an old thread, BUT... Dunk, i disagree.

Gilmoure (note spelling) may well have been witnessed to play many different guitars but essentially he does have "a sound" - that mid-boosted warm smooth strat sound so evident in "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", for example. In later years (think: "The Wall") he develops some very different sounds, such as the buzzy scooped (i think thats the word for it) distortion rhythm track on Another Brick in The Wall pt. 2. (not the nise clean one that mostly uses that Dm barre chord - another, much quieter one) But essentially if you ask someone to emulate a Gilmoure sound, you'll hear warm smooth fairly clean almost humbucker-ish tones.

Having said that... yeah it is in the fingers...

[Ripper]

A guitarist who stands out in a crowd, will always stand out in a crowd. No matter what guitar, or what pickup combination he chooses.

Take Jeff Beck for example. He can use his big $$$ Stratocaster, or a cheapo entry level guitar. You can tell its Beck.
Same with EVH, SRV etc...

They have that unique touch that is theirs and theirs alone. Yes, its been said many times in this forum, Its all in the fingers.

[warmstrat]

who is EVH?

[UnklMickey]

Edward VanHalen

[alfonso]

The often forgotten Ritchie Blackmore who has some of the most gorgeous strat sounds in his old stuff with the early 70's Deep Purple, liked to compensate the muddiness of the distorted neck in the low registers and the the unappealing sound of the bridge in the higher ranges just switching them to the bridge when in first positions and to the neck when going after the 10th-12th fret. In fact you have some tonally very balanced solos, tons of sustain and an always perfectly clear and musical sound.

[Ibanez Guy]

For higher gain rock stuff adjust your neck humbucker up close to the strings and back the tone control off just a little. Now when you go into a lead break that is higher up the neck you'll get a singing lead quality without the ice pick high frequencies you might get with a neck pickup.

I use this approach for Queen, Black Crowes and Zep to name a couple that come to mind.

Other leads I back off the tone on the neck pickup and turn the volume all the way up.